


watch me disappear (into the sun)

by ura_nium



Series: Missing in Action [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dick whump, Gen, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-07-11 20:24:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15979838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ura_nium/pseuds/ura_nium
Summary: Robin has been coming back from Gotham, more and more these days, in a rough state. He's tired, hurt at times, and it is starting to worry the team.





	1. sleepless, i’m battle-worn

**Author's Note:**

> [Prompt](http://yj-anon-meme.livejournal.com/5067.html?thread=11950539#t11950539): "The team starts noticing that frequently Robin comes back from Dynamic Duo-ing it up tired and looking older, and it always takes him a while to lighten up again. The thing is, they may think they've seen bad stuff, but Robin works in Gotham, home of the Joker and Scarecrow and some of the worst scum in the world."

_Robin? Robin, are you listening to me?_ Kaldur’s voice reverberates through their heads, imploring and slightly annoyed.

The boy jerks upright from leaning idly against his keyboard of the bioship, his dazed expression slipping to reveal his exhaustion underneath.

_Sorry. Um. You were saying?_

The leader resists the urge to sigh and sees M’gann and Artemis steal puzzled glances at the boy. Wally, who is seated across the cockpit from Boy Wonder, rolls his eyes and proceeds to explain for Kaldur.

_He just told you that we are to split into two recon teams, and you’re leading one of them. Pay attention, idiot._

Robin’s mouth forms a comprehensive ‘O’ as Kaldur continues, _Team A, which you will be leading, Robin, consists of you, Conner and Artemis. They will get you to the central core, Robin, where you will retrieve the information needed while Team B, M’gann, KF and I will lead a distraction. Is that understood?_

 _Understood._ four voices intone simultaneously.

 _Understood_. Robin echoes, a little late; He’s rubbing at his eyes so furiously it looks as if he’s trying to scrub out his eyeballs.

“Robin? What’s wrong? You seem rather distracted.” Inquires Kaldur aloud, his cool voice stark in the silent cabin. The others are all facing different directions but he can tell that they’re listening.

“Nothing, nothing. Just a little—” the child stifles a yawn. “Just a little tired, that—that’s all. Been up all night doing Gotham stuff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Kal,” he seems to regain his edge and turns back slightly to throw him a mischievous smirk. “Don’t worry.”

Somehow, Kaldur can’t help but do just that.

* * *

And as it turns out, he had the right to.

“A collapsed building, both of your team members shaken, one injured. What were you thinking, Robin?”

The youngster stares determinedly at his feet as Batman reprimands him. His mentor is beyond angry, he’s _livid_. Kaldur just stands silently at the side, waiting for his debriefing. Even in the face of Batman’s ( _the_ Batman’s) anger, the boy does not draw back.

The rest are in the infirmary with Artemis and Conner, but the metahuman seems overall fine; a little deafened by the explosions, but he’ll recover soon enough. Artemis got a little roughed but, a few bruises here and there and has a slight concussion, according to M’gann who is still transmitting mental messages to him and the rest, excluding Robin. But other than that, the archer and the team are okay, nothing overly serious.

 _Robin,_ M’gann thinks worriedly. The others send waves of their concern too, _How about Robin, Kaldur? How is he… holding up?_

Wally interjects before he can say anything, _Batman’s butchering him, right? Oh man._

 _It’s not his fault, none of us expected that security system was so complex and the core to have a self-destruct mechanism—_ Conner says slowly, still sounding a little dazed.

Artemis piped up; he could feel her worry, despite the distance, Y _eah, and besides, our injuries aren’t even serious, please Kal, can you tell Batman that? Please?_

_I am very sorry Team, but I cannot. I have tried, but Batman just told me not to make excuses for him. I am also afraid I might harm Robin’s situation more, if I were to interrupt—_

_They knew we were coming, they seriously did! How then were they able to intercept our teams so fast?! Why is he solely blaming Robin?_  Cries Wally, outraged. The others seem rather exasperated too. But given their position, there was not much that they could do.

Kaldur watches as Batman paces about Robin like a panther, his comments puncturing the air and breaking through his mental bubble.

“Lack of discipline, carelessness, _complacency_. These were the three mistakes you committed. You placed your teammates’ lives in danger tonight, Robin. And that is not acceptable. Did you even contemplate the consequences before dragging them into that situation? Did you _try_ to even prepare back-up plans or emergency strategies in case you all were ambushed? Have you forgotten everything I’ve taught you?”

“No, I haven’t.” Robin replies as he looked up, straight into his mentor’s eyes. His voice is steady but Kaldur is shocked to see how pale and exhausted he appeared from both the mission and the scolding. He looks like he is on the verge of collapse, but this only seems fuel Batman’s anger.

“Then why didn’t you apply it? No excuse is enough to compensate for what you have done tonight. This mission may have been a success, but you,” The Dark Knight straightens up, expression grim and darkened by shadows. Robin does not falter.

“You have failed.”

The last three words fall like stones in Kaldur’s stomach and a lump rises to his throat. The words he’s just heard echo unintentionally across the mind-link; the mental murmurings of the others are suddenly gone and he can feel their shock and incredulity.

The guilt on Robin’s face is obvious now, and that, coupled with fatigue, makes the young boy look completely helpless.

Batman seems to have finished his lecture as he turns to Kaldur and says in a cold, stern tone.

“When your Team is recovered, I expect 5 full-length reports on the mission. Do not include Robin’s; I will deal with him separately. As for you,” he turns back to his protégé and gives him a severe look.

“I expect you at the Batcave at no later than 3am. You will give me a full-length, verbal report and your punishment will be decided then.”

With a swish, the Bat sweeps out of the cave and strides into the Zeta tubes, with the machine blaring his identity and number designation in his wake.

The sound rings in empty cave and Robin deflates with a sigh. He seems to have forgotten that Kaldur is there and proceeds to shuffle off the electronic floor, limping slightly.

Kaldur suddenly realises that he’s probably been hiding his injuries from them and Batman this whole while, but maybe, maybe the infallible Boy Wonder has finally reached his limit.

He goes up behind the boy as silently as possible and without warning, scoops the boy up into his arms. He hears the teen yelp, “What the—Kaldur!” but ignores it and starts walking.

Robin pushes weakly at the older boy, begging him to let him down.

The others start jabbering again and he shuts them out this time. “No, Robin. I’m not going to let you down.

The younger falls into sulky silence as they walk down the corridor leading to the medical bay. Kaldur sees him grimace when he shifts him into a more comfortable position.

“You’re injured. Why didn’t you say so?” The boy scowls and looks away, expression inscrutable under his domino mask.

“Didn’t want Bats to see. And you.”

 _Idiot— ow!_ Wally whines as someone, presumably Artemis, slaps his shoulder. But anyway, Robin isn’t linked, so he can’t hear.

He shakes his head at his young friend’s stubbornness and sighs. “Just sleep, Robin.”

“But—”

“Sleep. That’s an order.”

Robin grumbles a little, muttering something about _‘everyone ordering me around,’_ but eventually, the white slits of his mask starts to narrow and his head tilts slightly, breaths evening out. Kaldur spares himself a small smile and moves the teenager so that his head is able to lean on the leader’s shoulder.

By the time they reach the Medical Bay, Kaldur’s arms are sore and aching from the weight, but Robin has his eyes closed and his face is that of a peaceful child.

_Finally._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I seem to write only Hurt Dick fics. What can I say, it's my favorite kind of fic to write? But here I am with another one, so please enjoy and let me know what you think! 
> 
> This will be a 5+1 fic, so there will be 6 chapters in total.
> 
> The story title is a line taken from Liability by Lorde, the chapter title is a line taken from Need the Sun To Break by James Bay. The full Spotify playlist for this fanfic can be found [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/aconytum/playlist/7cVatvPOws52p5BNeaRYia?si=vJABdH6jRPe_eprt9UhZ3g). Have fun guessing which songs will make up the titles of the next few chapters!


	2. meet you underneath the moonlight

_Click... click... click..._

His ear twitches and he looks up slightly. The TV is buzzing madly, its screen a mess of pixelated grey, white and black. The coach is cold and empty, lined with those fuzzy cushions that M’gann is so fascinated with.

_Click... click... click..._

There it is again. It can't be M'gann, she's at cheerleader practice, Kaldur is at the pool and Wally and Artemis are out on an activity ("New movie, Attack of the Zombies". Informs Wally. Artemis follows up with a hurried explanation, "It's not a date though. Just going to watch a violent, gory and, um, completely unromantic movie." Conner notes that she's wearing lipstick). And Robin, Robin doesn't sound like that.

Right?

_Click... click... click..._

A young boy clad in a red hoodie and a pair of shades appears in the doorway. The first thing Conner notices is that he's on a pair of crutches. They are the source of the strange clicking noise and snap against the floor in a severe, cold way, slicing right through the fuzzy static of the TV.

He stands a little cautiously, eyes still on Robin. The TV is on and the sound the machine is making is distracting, especially with his enhanced hearing. But he can't block out the sound of the crutches, the pressed metallic creak when the young boy rests his weight on them, the slight whine as he uses momentum lift himself up and swing forwards, and the squeak of the rubber sole of his single sneaker as he pushes off.

His casted leg is held an angle so that it does not have any contact at all with the ground.

Robin tries to lift himself up and onto the counter; his wrist and chest are throbbing with dull fire from his short trip from the zeta beam to the kitchen. Suddenly, he feels the tiled floor disappear underneath him, his arms are pinned to the sides of his torso and the crutches are hovering a few centimetres above the ground held in place only by his hands. He gives an exasperated sigh.

"Con, put me down."

Conner says nothing but instead lifts and sets the kid on the counter.

"Thank you." The brunette says a little pointedly, taking his crutches and leaning them beside him against the smooth black table. Conner stares for a bit more, then grunts out a question.

"What happened."

Robin shrugged, answering almost breezily, "Gotham stuff, nothing to worry about."

The clone arches a questioning eyebrow, gaze unwavering. Robin sighs for the second time in less than 5 minutes as he waits for a proper answer.

"Fine, Riddler happened. Bats and I were chasing him down over rooftops, he tripped me when we were crossing and I fell and didn't land properly, that's all. No big deal, kay?"

His hands curl into fists as he stares at Robin. With his x-ray vision, he can see that besides the leg, Robin had a few cracks on two of his ribs and bandages around his wrist. Robin, on the other hand, knows exactly what he's doing and shifts uncomfortably under Conner's eye.

A million questions ricochet in his head. It hurts, and there's an urge for him to just spit them out.

"Uh..." the Boy of Steel does not move. "Conner?"

Finally, the 16-year-old stirs and grunts. "Want a Coke?"

Robin looks relieved at the change in topic. "Sure, I mean, Batman doesn't like me drinking that stuff— but, yeah whatever, sure."

The fridge opens with a sucking sound. The static is still buzzing in his ears, but he hasn't forgotten the sound of Robin's crutches against the ground. As he digs about for drinks for both of them, padded footsteps signal the arrival of Wolf, who makes a pleased sound at the sight of Robin and lumbers up to the kid, but not before brushing his body against Conner's boots to indicate his presence.

The older boy resurfaces with two red cans in his big hands. Robin is scratching the beast behind its ears. Wolf's eyes slide shut lazily and he growls contentedly.

The cans hiss in protest when he pops them open.

Conner holds one out. Robin accepts and they swig simultaneously. Wolf opens his eyes in the absence of Robin's stroking and rears on his hind legs and places his paws on Robin's lap, sniffing at the can. This makes Robin laugh and Conner’s lip twitch.

They slip into a comfortable silence, sipping their drinks. His ears seem to have a mind of its own; they fix back onto the television and his head is suddenly filled with mindless crackling. Suddenly everything has a sort of buzz to it, the fizzy carbonated drink in the can, the rustling of Robin’s hair when he flips his fringe, the humming fridge, the running of electricity through the walls of the cave, even the cushions on the couch which were all static-filled from soaking up sound from the TV. Everything was alive and buzzing and messing up his fuzzy brain.

He jumps when Robin crushes his empty can against the counter top. The kid picks up his crutches and Wolf veers off him as he leaps down from the counter and stumbles. Conner's breath catches, he wants to reach out and grab Robin before he falls and hits the ground, he can already hear the thud, the soft crunch of his fragilefragilefragile bones—

Then the boy regains his balance. He looks up at Conner, his expression questioning. Somehow, the clone’s own heart was palpitating, beating like the wings of a hummingbird from the scare. The feeling is unsettling and unfamiliar.

"Er, Supes?" Robin jerks his head towards his left hand, which suddenly it feels wet; there's something dripping on it. Perplexed, Conner looks.

"Oh.” Brown liquid slides from his suddenly slick hand and puddles in a sticky mess on the wooden kitchen flooring. He had unknowingly crushed his half-empty coke in his hand when Robin slipped off the counter and nearly fell.

He doesn’t know what to do so he just freezes.

"Huh— haha." Robin says softly and his hand lands on Conner's wet, sticky one and suddenly the can is pried out of his grip and a cloth is shoved into it instead. He turns makes his way over the trash can. The crutches crack and squeak harshly.

"Um— what is this for?" Conner asks a little dumbly, standing there with the limp wet cloth held in his hand.

"Cleaning, Con." The container rattles as the two battered drink cans fall in. Robin swivels around with an astounding speed and flashes him an easy smile, "you created the mess, and you clean it up."

"Oh. Okay." He wipes his sticky palms first then bends down. Robin comes closer.

_Click... click... click..._

His sneaker stops before the slowly spreading puddle of brown on the ground.

"Well," there's a note of finality in his voice. Conner's brain is buzzing with static and metal-and-rubber squealing and clicking on tiles but he listens anyway.

"I'm gonna head to the lab to use the equipment, okay? I won't come out for a while, depends how my research goes, but… you can come find me if you feel like? Or if you feel bored or anything? It's up to you really."

"... Sure." He doesn't really know what else he has to say. Conner makes a mental note to learn how to have a conversation while having noise in his head.

"Alright, then— Seeya."

And off he went.

_Click... click... click... click... click..._

Conner stands and dumps the cloth in the basin.

_Click... click.. click..._

Sits back down in front of the TV. The cushions fizzle against his jeans. The screen is still a miscellaneous scramble of greys, whites and blacks.

_Click... click..._

Somehow, he can't really hear the static anymore. It's muffled, indistinct, insignificant.

It was lost in the sound of—

_Click._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always love a little bit of Superboy x Robin interaction. It's a pairing I think deserves so much more attention than it does in this fandom!
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter, it would be nice to hear from you!
> 
> The story title is a line taken from Liability by Lorde, the chapter title is a line taken from New Light by John Mayer. The full Spotify playlist for this fanfic can be found [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/aconytum/playlist/7cVatvPOws52p5BNeaRYia?si=vJABdH6jRPe_eprt9UhZ3g). Have fun guessing which songs will make up the titles of the next few chapters!


	3. (everybody knows) what you’ve been through

"Recognised: Robin, B01." The cool computer voice carries into the kitchen. M'gann looks up from her cooking, spatula paused in mid-stir. The rest of the team were in front of the TV; Wally also straightens up at the sound of the machine.

"Did I hear correctly?" Conner looks over at his question. "Robin's here?"

Conner exchanges a strange look with M'gann. Kaldur is still glued to his book and Artemis eyes are still on the TV.

"Why? Is he not supposed to be here?" M'gann asks softly.

Wally shrugs, standing up. "Sorta. He told me he was supposed to be patrolling Gotham tonight with Batman, and said not to expect him to drop by this week."

"Why?" He turned Conner, who looked vaguely grim, Artemis, on the other hand, had unglued her eyes from the TV to listen to their conversation. Her expression was strangely grim.

The boy wrinkled his freckled nose, "I read it in the news, there was a massive breakout at Arkham over the weekend, Gotham is in chaos now. The city’s in a lockdown; No one can get in or out. Wait, I'll go ask him—" the speedster disappears in a blur.

Barely a second later, they hear him shout, voice shrill and slightly panicked, "M'GANN?! KALDUR?! COME QUICK!!"

They rush to the zeta tubes. Wally is on the floor, holding as tightly as he can to a limp bundle in his arms, shaking it—

"Robin? Robbie, dude, wake up!"

"What happened?" Kaldur asks sharply, running over and setting his closed book down on the floor beside the pair of best friends. The leader pries the boy's hands off Robin and quickly checks his pulse.

The movement shifts the child, his face turning towards the team. M'gann gasps when she realizes the there is a huge gash on his pale forehead, from which rivulets of wine-red blood is dripping sluggishly from. The gore seeps into his hairline as his head lolls feebly.

She scans his body and spots, with slight horror, blossoming bruises on the exposed areas of his arms. And this was probably not the worst of it, because Conner growls and M'gann catches a glimpse of what he's seeing and it makes her wince.

"I don't know!" Wally's voice goes up a decibel, "When I got here he was leaning on the side of the tube andthenIwentuptoaskhimwhyhewashereandhejustfellandIcaughthimand—"

M'gann can feel him panicking, and she was starting to freak out too. Something was wrong, this was wrong, Robin was not waking, she couldn't sense his mind, and they had to do something quick, anything—

"Rob!" Artemis whispers, looking both worried and mortified.

The white slits of Robin’s domino mask flutter and slowly widen. M'gann feels her heart lift with the others, Robin's awake, he's gonna be alright, he's gonna be—

Suddenly, he starts to shake in the most frightful manner. All the feelings of relief are wiped from their minds as Wally turns ashen.

"Robin? What's—"

Then everything goes wrong.

She barely has time to realize that a maddened grin is slowly stretching across Robin's deathly pale face when a small, skin-crawling sound escapes his lips.

"Heh."

It is kind of funny how they all freeze at that one little sound. Funny.

But Robin doesn’t stop there. They see his giggle swell up in his vested chest before he explodes in a chorus of hysterical cackles. The sound echoes dizzily in the suddenly silent hall.

"Hehe. Heheheheha. Aha! Haha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Artemis and Wally both look like someone just slapped them across the face, Kaldur seems to be at a loss for words, Conner is either stoic, or crippled by shock.

Robin quakes like a leaf, positively screaming with uncontrollable mirth as he laughs and laughs and laughs. The sound is terrifying; it's sharp, it’s harsh, and the laughs don't sound real at all. They sound like they're forcing their way up his throat, tearing through his lips to bubble forth in some kind of demented fountain of shrieks. They scratch at M’gann’s ears and twist her stomach into knots.

It’s only when the tears start to run down his face that everyone jolts back into action.

"Robin? Robin, snap out of it!" Artemis slaps the boy lightly across his face while Wally detaches his utility belt. Kaldur springs up and activates the computer to call Batman, Black Canary, Red Tornado, JLA, _anyone_ and Conner just bends down to hold their teammate as he thrashes madly, laughing still.

Wally hands Artemis the belt; she looks at him quizzically.

"Search for the antidote. It probably unlabelled so take out all the medications you can find." He explains just as Kaldur returns to their side, worried eyes raking over Robin's bucking body.

"What, no response?" Conner says sharply. The leader shook his head as a reply.

M'gann just stands there the entire time, shaking a little herself from fear, confusion, she doesn't know what to think, what to do—

Artemis' voice brings her back to Earth, "M'gann, can you try to reach into his mind, calm him down? He won't stop moving—"

Spasms wrack Robin's small frame, and he's struggling against Conner's unrelenting grip, raw giggles coming out in short bursts now; he seems a little out of breath and his head wound looks really bad.

She can hear Wally muttering, "Robin, it's okay, it's us, calm down. Snap out of it, Rob. Come on, it's me, dude, KF—"

If M'gann is going to enter his mind, she has to do it soon, and fast. But even as she places her hand onto Robin's bloody forehead, fear seizes her insides, making her hesitate.

What if she can't help Robin? What if she does something bad again and they both go into a coma or die? What if she goes in and can't come out? She remembers the last time and shudders.

"M'gann?? Any day now!!" They're really struggling with the boy. One of his hands swings out from the tangle and smacks her across her face, accidentally. It shocks her, shocks all of them.

She wrenches herself violently out of her sea of doubts and without thinking, she plunges into his mind.

For a split-second, there is nothing, just stark silence. Suddenly, a strange shrill screeching starts to tear at her mental walls. There is this roar of pressure on the back of her mind as she struggles to reinforce her shield and keep Robin from breaking into her mind.

Then—

_Help._

This first coherent word comes in the form of some sort of whisper. It brushes past her faltering defences, as soft as a withered flower petal. She suddenly forgets one of the most important mind-linking theories explained to her by her parents, her uncle; _traumatized minds are like rattlesnakes. Don’t show them your fear, advance with caution, lest they strike back._

She forgets that lesson and flinches.

Before M'gann can even respond, she is washed away by a massive tidal wave of rage and a whole ton of other feelings (pain, fear, confusion) and she's falling backwards and—

Conner catches her before she hits the ground. Robin's still laughing, but much, much weaker now—

"— gave him a hit of sedatives, M'gann, you okay?"

She inhales deeply and starts to sit back up. Conner's hands are firm against her back. "I think so. He—“

'Recognised: Batman, 02'

The tube glows and a tall dark figure materialises. The Dark Knight steps out of the shadows and walks up behind the group. He looks roughed up too; there is a large bleeding gash on his arm, a bruise on his cheek and his Bat-Symbol is all shredded, revealing a layer of body armour underneath.

Batman kneels down beside them, surveys Robin's still trembling form, checks his pulse and eyes and looks meaningfully at M'gann, who is still in a half-sitting position, with Conner beside her.

"Kicked you out of his mind, I presume."

Suddenly she feels a little ashamed. Conner helped hold Robin, Wally and Artemis talked to him and gave him the sedative, Kaldur called Batman, but she did nothing remotely useful. "I'm sorry, I—"

"It's alright." She stops. "You meant well, it’s just that Robin's training made him react in that way."

This is said in a grim, serious manner, and somehow, M'gann doesn't feel better at all.

Her train of thoughts snap when Batman slides his arms under Robin and he stands, with the shivering boy cradled in his arms.

"Where are you taking him?" Wally asks hurriedly. Conner and Kaldur stand too, concerned.

The man glances at them all in turn and replies, voice deep and gravelly, "To administer the antidote and treat his concussion and other internal injuries. And probably get him to rest," he paused, "this is his — our — 72nd waking hour."

The meaning of the last statement takes a while to dawn upon them. M'gann feels her stomach clench.

He turns before they can react and steps into the zeta tube. They watch the pair go, all their attention on that precious bundle in Batman's embrace.

But just before he disappears completely, M'gann swears she sees Batman incline his head slightly towards them in a nod. A faint mental echo reaches her for a split-second, before it vanishes with Batman and Robin. But she is quite sure of it; quite sure that Batman meant it for the team.

_Thank you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was, quite honestly, one of my favorite chapters of this fic. It was so easy to write, and it flowed out so easily, and which writer doesn't like when a story basically writes itself? Besides that, I've always loved M'gann's relationship with Dick, it has always felt kinda older sister, younger brother, and that's the kind of content I live an die for. 
> 
> The story title is a line taken from Liability by Lorde, the chapter title is a line taken from Everybody Knows by Sigrid (it's the cover that was used in the Justice League movie). The full Spotify playlist for this fanfic can be found [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/aconytum/playlist/7cVatvPOws52p5BNeaRYia?si=vJABdH6jRPe_eprt9UhZ3g). Have fun guessing which songs will make up the titles of the next few chapters!
> 
> Let me know what you thought about this chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed it :) Even if you didn't please let me know so I can improve on my writing as well.


	4. count the miles from you to me

The first thing he hears when he enters the gym is the sound of bare flesh hitting rubber.

Robin is in the middle of the training mat, beating up a punching bag with all his might. His bare torso glistens with sweat and his lean muscles ripple as he viciously attacks the equipment.

"Hey. Wassup." Robin looks up and returns his attention to the bag when he sees it’s just Wally.

"Sup. What're you doing here? I thought you were going on a roadtrip with your mates for the weekend?"

"Nope, Stu and Linda both cancelled and besides, I was only going because of Linda, so."

Robin scoffs, looking briefly over to his friend.

"Flirt."

"Brat."

The boy doesn't return the retort so Wally stands there a little listlessly, watching his friend pummel (destroy) the (poor, defenceless) punching bag. Then something occurs to him.

"Wait, then what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm training." Robin hits the red sack a few more times before halting suddenly. The punching bag swings feebly on its metal chain.

Wally follows him as he strides over to his blue bottle and plunks himself down onto one of the training mats.

"In the middle of the night? And don't you usually train with the Bats? Back at your cave, I mean." He asks, still standing as Robin gulped down water. The boy stopped, then lowers his bottle.

"Uh...” Wally has never seen him so hesitant before, “About that... Bruce and I kinda got into a...um... fight."

“Oh…uh… that can’t… that can’t be good…” He trails off uncertainly. To his immense relief, Robin makes a weird sound that sounds like a cross between a cough and a laugh and takes another swig from his bottle.

“No shit, Sherlock.” The redhead grins. This was why it was easy to talk to Robin; he was good dispersing the mood and making everyone feel at ease.

“So… what did you guys fight about?”

“Huh. Well, it’s just that… remember that last time I broke my leg from falling off the roof?”

“Oh yeah, the Riddler one. What about it?”

“My knee was dislocated too, but Alf popped it back in before Leslie casted my leg so we all thought it was fine.”

“Okay…”

“Well, there were some… problems with the tissue and muscle and now and then, it acts up. It wasn’t a problem until the other day we were out on patrol and the stupid thing had to kick in and I suddenly couldn’t put weight on that leg. Bruce had to go get the ‘mobile and drive me back home.” He watches as the 13-year-old grimaces at the thought of it. “Then later, he comes to me, all, ‘you should take a break, stop being Robin for 2 months’ or something.” He does a near-perfect imitation of Batman. Wally almost feels a chill run down his spine. Almost.

“I was like hell no, I’m not going to do that, and then he flipped his shit on me.”

Robin stares unhappily at the battered sandbag, a slight crease forming on his forehead. “He got crazy mad, said I didn’t know my priorities and I got mad too, and we ended up shouting. I ran here, because I couldn’t stand it.”

Wally thinks for a while, then spins around and plunks himself down beside his friend, “Ah… well, but that’s how Bats shows that he cares, isn’t it? By being protective and all.”

The other boy takes another quick swig from the bottle, “I guess. It’s either that or he was just being moody.”

“Hmm…”

Wally lets his eyes wander as Robin stands up again and walks over to the punching bag. Then something on his friend’s back catches his eye and he feels his blood run cold.

“What is _that_?”

“What’s what?”

There’s a set of scars stretching across the small of Robin’s back, three deep, long, whitish claw marks, raking down from his right shoulder blade and halting just before the middle of his spine.

“You—” Wally watches on in slight horror and fascination as Robin cranes his neck to see what the speedster is looking at. When he sees it, he just shrugs.

“Oh that. Got it from the Killer Croc, when I was 10. We were fighting, Batman was round the back trying the take him out and I was distracting him when I got a little too close and…  ” he makes a swiping motion through the air, complete with sound effects. Wally winces as Robin gives a grim little laugh.

“Then what’s that?” his eyes zero in on 2 thumb-sized, angry-red and slightly round scars on Robin’s right side as he turns around to talk to Wally better.

Robin barely looks at them and stares back at Wally, a strange look on his face. His gaze is disbelieving, “Dude.”

Wally throws his hands up at the incredulous tone, “What?!”

“You’ve never seen gunshot wounds before? Do you live under a rock or something?” He says this is in such a matter-of-fact tone that Wally almost apologizes.

Instead he just makes a silly face, even though he can his feel his heart resting at the bottom of his stomach at Robin’s words, “Whatever, you little douche.”

Robin makes a face back, “Meh.”

As the boy goes around packing up, Wally can’t keep his eyes off his bare torso. He begins to notice other scars and marks he hasn’t seen before, not just the claw marks and gunshot wounds (there were more than just those two, but they looked older, more faded).

There are slash marks and scrapes all over the front of his torso, his back is not as bad, but still quite battered. Wally squints a little and notices that he has patches of white on some parts of his back from what looks like burns. His bare, leanly muscled arms are littered with tiny, white and almost invisible scars, probably from glass shards and stray shrapnel. In addition to all that, he spots several healing bruises on his arms and legs from the previous missions and his nightly endeavours with Batman in Gotham.

 _Gotham._ Wally muses in slight awe. _Is this what that God-forsaken city could do to a person? Give them a million scars and numb their beings?_

Robin seems so nonchalant about his past injuries, and Batman never ever says anything. But if it’s so bad, so dangerous, why do they still fight? Why do they still want to save her?

This is a death wish. A horrible, disgusting, morbid mission that is going to lead them to their deaths.

The thought leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. He feels sick as his eyes go back to the gigantic, painful-looking claw marks on Robin’s small back. Only now is he starting to understand why Robin seems so unfeeling, so cold sometimes towards the kinds of things they see on missions, the massacres, the blood, and the dead. How he is able to formulate and execute complicated battle plans flawlessly in the face of danger, harm and death.  How he and Batman can continue to press on when everyone, the older kids, the adults, the _metas_ are all exhausted out of their minds and down for the count.

_Because in Gotham, you have to be last one standing, or you won’t even be standing at all._

His mind is running a mile an hour, even as Robin pulls on his training tunic and shrugs a sweatshirt over it and all the scars are once again hidden, unseen. The boy stares back at his unwavering gaze and suddenly, Wally has no idea who this kid, this boy before him is. He doesn’t know his best friend anymore and he doesn’t know why.

Robin’s familiar voice creeps into his consciousness, “Wally?”

He very nearly laughs at how normal Robin sounds. But he doesn’t of course; instead he blinks and answers, “Yeah?”

“Since you’re free,” the boy grins, wide and sunny. Wally feels dazed and numb.

 Suddenly everything is nothing and nothing is everything and he doesn’t belong.

“Wanna go out for a pizza or a movie of something?”

He plasters a smile on his own face, feeling strange and splintered as he replies, “Of course! Oh! There’s a new movie out, Real Steel, I think. Looks fantastic.”

_This kid’s so small, so young, yet his body and mind is one of a world-weary war veteran, with so many burdens, so many troubles, so, so many wounds._

He feels like Robin is speaking from far, far off when the boy responds, walking past him and out of the gym, “They have midnight shows over the HarbourFront Theatres, along Mendel Street. Wanna catch it?”

“Sure.” His feet follow automatically, but his mind is now set on a single thought. Running and re-running itself, over and over in his head.

_So many scars._

_Too many._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story title is a line taken from Liability by Lorde, the chapter title is a line taken from Oh! Calamity by All Time Low. The full Spotify playlist for this fanfic can be found [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/aconytum/playlist/7cVatvPOws52p5BNeaRYia?si=vJABdH6jRPe_eprt9UhZ3g). Have fun guessing which songs will make up the titles of the next few chapters!
> 
> Please do let me know what you think of this fic! Also, you can find me on [tumblr](http://the-superhero-rush.tumblr.com/), feel free to send me any prompts or messages on there! :)


	5. the galaxy you are

"Pass the remote, squirt. This show is boring." Wally grunts through a mouth of popcorn.

Artemis turns her head slightly to see Robin sit up slowly and pick the plastic device off the coffee table. He tosses it at Wally. The remote sails through the air and she notices Robin’s aim is a little off. The controller is leaning too much to the left and—

Being the speedster he is, Wally catches it naturally, but this doesn't stop the teen from exclaiming, "Dude! What kind of throw was that?"

Kaldur lifts his head slightly from his thick book of runes to see if there's any need for him to intervene. M'gann and Conner are on the loveseat; they aren’t even paying attention to the TV. Artemis silently watches on from her seat beside Robin, unsure.

It’s about 11pm, the next day is a Saturday so their mentors gave them permission to go the cave and 'hang out', which usually consisted of M'gann and Conner cuddling, on the couch, in the most discreet manner that they can manage, Robin or Artemis bickering with Wally over the control of the television, and Kaldur reading or mediating arguments between the trio.

Artemis arrives, as usual, at 8pm and finds Conner, M’gann and Kaldur already in the entertainment room, watching TV. Wally dashes in at 9.30pm, hollering like he normally does. She smacks him around his head before sending him to the sofa with a bowl of popcorn she made.

Like every other bonding night, Robin is late. He comes in at about 10, with a haggard look on his face and pulling a long face and gives his usual reason (“Patrol.”) with a more hoarse voice than usual, before plonking himself down on the sofa beside her.

But tonight, tonight is different. Artemis can’t place the feeling but tonight feels… off.

"Sorry, Kid." The other boy grumbles as he flicks through the channels, Robin watching him with a dazed expression.  He lies slumped against the cushion, looking drawn and tired and utterly listless.

“Rob?”

He does not respond to Artemis’ call and all of a sudden, a shiver runs down her spine.

This scares her. Robin doesn’t act like that, never acts like that, so why is he being like that now? Why tonight?

“Hey, Earth to Robin.” She hesitates, then looks around the room. No one else seems to have noticed the weird blank sort of state Robin has sunk into except her, and she was starting to panic.

“Hey—” she reaches over and pokes the boy in the ribs and he jerks so violently, she scoots backwards, shocked. They freeze.

The others are still oblivious but Artemis can almost see his eyes widening and dilating behind those annoying tinted shades of his as he kind of pulls himself back together, movements jerky and unnatural.

“Sorry… sorry Arty. Um,” he looks about the room and his fingers start to do this nervous sort of tapping pattern on the seat of the sofa that is slowly getting faster, and fasterandfasterandfasterand—

“I think I’ll go catch some shuteye, call me when Bats comes.” She hears him say from far far away. Wally makes some smart comment that Robin chooses to ignore and the rest continue with their activities as Robin pulls himself up, shuffles past all of them and makes his way out of the living area.

His footsteps echo down the hall, and she swears she hears him stumble.

~

12.35am. Kaldur has been duped into playing video games with Wally and Conner and M’gann have stopped even pretending they were cuddling and were now openly kissing. Artemis sits in the same spot staring at the TV screen without really seeing anything, wishing something, anything would happen so she would have a reason to excuse herself—

Conner’s head snaps up, leaving M’gann looks confused and hanging. Artemis is startled to see his eyes, usually a calming, albeit piercing azure were now icy cold, like two shards of crystal blue eyes.

“Conner?” M’gann asks cautiously, “Conner, what is it—”

Then she gasps and clutches at her head, her face scrunching up in pain. Conner shoots to his feet and starts towards the door while Artemis and Wally move to M’gann’s side, Wally concerned and confused, Artemis apprehensive.

“Robin.” M’gann manages as she opens her amber eyes. Conner is halfway out the door, face set in a hard expression. The Martian lifts her head to look at all her teammates and Artemis is shocked to see that she’s crying.

“Robin.” The message sunk in at the repeated word. Soundlessly, the rest of the team rose and started after Conner, M’gann flying and Wally taking the lead with his super-speed while Kaldur and Artemis jog, keeping up to their pace. They arrive in the middle of one of the hallways, where Conner is struggling with a door. Robin’s door.

Wolf, who has somehow woken up and followed Conner to Robin’s room, and is now clawing steel frame too, making whimpering noises.

Then a scream rips past the steel door and Artemis finally understands why Conner came running.

She hears Wally mutter, “Rob.” And pushes past everybody to frantically punch in the code for the room. The door zips open immediately and Artemis catches a glimpse of the dark interior and something shifting on the bed before Wally blocks the room from the view and utters 3, heavy words.

“Don’t come in.” he then darts in himself, and the Team stops at the door. The room is so dark, Artemis can just barely see Wally zooming to the bed and shaking the figure on it at it tosses and thrashes—

And suddenly shoots upright with an audible gasp.

“Wally!” It was unmistakably Robin’s voice, but it was throaty and thick and filled with tears.

Even from outside they room, they can hear his stutters and Wally comforting him in a soft, unnaturally gentle voice. As their eyes adjust to the darkness of the room, Artemis can finally see the shaking shoulders of the boy as he buries his face into his best friend’s shoulder, gasping and sputtering like he doesn’t have enough air.

At this moment, the same sudden chill seizes Artemis and she is terrified. She has never seen anyone break apart like that before, and the last person she’d expect to have a meltdown is Robin, their snarky little brother, quick-witted strategist, indestructible, invincible teammate. Never—

In between his sobs, she hears his breath hitch as he says hoarsely, to Wally.

“It was the same thing. Over and over again. Oh God, Wally, they— they were just—”

And Wally, Wally just wraps his arms around the compact, tiny little quaking form of the boy and rocks him back and forth, murmuring, “Shh… shh…”

They see him turn his head slightly and mouth clearly to the four of them.

_Leave._

They consent without a word. The door slips shut as they move away, but the tears standing in M’gann’s eyes that came from whatever she’s felt ( _pain, pure sharp pain, then agony and fear. She explains in a hollow voice to Artemis, much much later_ ), Superboy’s tensed fists which are balled so tight she thought he was going to burst a vein and the grave look on Kaldur’s face doesn’t go away, even when Wally walks, not runs, into the living area.

The shoulder of his red hoodie visibly wet and his own face a little too shiny to be dry.

“He’s sleeping.”

Silence.

Wally takes his seat by Artemis, and slowly, methodically strips off his soiled jacket and folds it into an unusually neat square. She is suddenly at a loss for smart comments and her eyes are starting to ache too.

A question is on the tip of her tongue, but she does not, dare not ask it.

_Why?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is another one of my favorite chapters, mainly because it shows Robin's/Dick's vulnerability. I feel like this is not touched on enough, because people always shape Dick up to be this tough, stoic kid who's hardened by his work, but I think at the core of it, he's still just a kid and he still needs help and comfort sometimes.
> 
> The story title is a line taken from Liability by Lorde, the chapter title is a line taken from Paris 12 by Linying. The full Spotify playlist for this fanfic can be found [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/aconytum/playlist/7cVatvPOws52p5BNeaRYia?si=vJABdH6jRPe_eprt9UhZ3g). Have fun guessing which songs will make up the titles of the next few chapters!


	6. falling into your ocean eyes

She walks in on them, one Saturday evening, all huddled in a group. Behind them, the TV is on but no one is watching it so it runs commercials in an endless loop. The cheery jingle associated with the popular pizza delivery ad seems to be serving as an eerie sort of background music to the whole tense atmosphere.

“Guys?” They startle at her voice and begin making movements to mask what seems to have been a meeting, until they realised who it was. Zatanna is unsettled by the way their body language goes from tense to relieved in seconds.

Weird.

“Oh, Zee. It’s just you.” Wally sighs from his seat on the coffee table, his previously wary, freckled features relaxing. The rest look similarly relieved too. M’gann is curled up against Conner in the loveseat situated on the right of the TV, Artemis is on the floor, in between M’gann and Wally’s right knee, and Kaldur is in the end of the haphazard conversation semi-circle, in the seat furthest on the left of the couch.

“So what gives, your dad let you off?”

“Yeah, my finals are over, so he let me come over, just to hang.” She shrugs as she takes a seat on the floor too, in between Kaldur and the coffee table and looks to each face in turn.

“What’s wrong? What are you guys being all sneaky about?” for some reason, guilty expressions cross their faces. The uneasy and tense atmosphere seems to turn a little awkward.

“What? What’s wrong? Are you guys hiding something from—” Then she stops short and scans the group again. Something dawns upon her and she opens her mouth slightly, then closes it, then opens it again.

“Where’s Robin?” the words come out as a whisper, but she is sure they’ve all heard it.

Conner grunts, Wally rubs his neck awkwardly, Kaldur makes a movement to look away, Artemis shifts uneasily and M’gann bites her lip. Their reactions worry Zatanna, they really do. She’s never seen the team so fidgety, so on edge.

“C’mon guys, don’t ignore me now. Where’s Robin? Is he hurt? What happened? Where—”

“Zatanna.” Kaldur cuts into her string of questions. She stops abruptly. His silver eyes are piercing, they seem to look straight through her soul as she looks back into his eyes.

“We… we don’t know.”

This is when panic starts to set in. She gives a shaky, nervous, little giggle.

“How can you guys not know? Don’t you meet every week or—”

“That’s the thing, Zatanna.” She turned to Wally and is momentarily caught off guard by his expression. For once, the teen was completely and absolutely dead serious.

“We haven’t seen Rob in almost a month now.”

The very air in the room seems to freeze. Zatanna feels a chill run down her spine.

M’gann shatters the ice in the air with a slightly wavery, would-be-hopeful voice, “But that’s ‘cause he’s busy—”

“M’gann.” Wally deadpanned and she falls silent. Conner glares a little and looks like he’s about say something to Wally but his forehead creases with worry too and he settles down quickly, brooding.

“I’m the only one here who knows Rob outside of this team, you know, like his real identity? We usually talk over the phone now and then, at least once a week and we text all the time. When he’s busy, he doesn’t check his phone and answers a few days after. If he loses it… well let’s just go with the idea that Robin is a very careful kid. He never loses anything.” Wally hesitates, then his expression seems to break down a little.

“He hasn’t been coming to the mountain. I tried his house, even climbed a tree to look into his room. There’s no one there. I haven’t seen, nor spoken to him for a month. An entire 4 weeks.” He whispers the last sentence hoarsely. Artemis puts a hand on his knee and they exchange similar, troubled looks. The rest look on, M’gann looks distressed, Conner is silent and deep in thought, and Kaldur’s face is lined with weariness and frustration over the youngest member’s disappearance.

Suddenly, the urgency of the matter seizes her too and her insides scrunch up into a tight ball. She feels like curling up into a tight little ball and just staying that way.

_A month. A **month.**_

“It’s just—” Artemis starts again.

“No one goes missing for that long.” Kaldur intones in his deep bass, silver eyes glinting. It was like he read her mind.

No one says anything to that. No one knows what to say.

“So,” their heads all snap towards her and she grimaces slightly at the attention. “What’re you going to do about it?”

“Well…” Wally says slowly, looking at the rest.

“We were planning on breaking into the Batcave.” Conner interjects suddenly. Zatanna nearly jumps; his deep baritone can be sometimes rather disconcerting.

“And how are we…” she trails off as all eyes rivet to Wally. He seems a little exasperated and resigned, but grim in a un-Wally like way. It was strange.

“They have zeta connections in the League system, for when Batman directly beams himself up to the Watchtower and for Robin to beam himself here. I’ve never used it before, though. Robin kind of showed me the Cave via the ‘front door’… as he calls it.” The very mention of Robin only seems to dampen the atmosphere even more. Zatanna feels like she’s suffocating.

“Then what are we waiting for?” her mouth moves and she speaks, but inside, she’s a million miles away, trying to recall all the healing spells and reviving spells her father has mentioned to her in their trainings before. They could come in useful tonight.

“Let’s go.”

~

Wally hacks the system and makes it grant them access to the Batcave, muting the machine’s recognition announcements at the same time (“It’s actually pretty easy. You just re-program this to do this and add that in and then boom, you can go anywhere and the thingy just shuts up, doesn’t make a sound.” He says as he types away on the screen. “Rob,” pause. “Robin taught me this last year. It’s… good for sneaking up on people.”)

As the weird fizzing sensation that usually came when Zeta-travelling runs under her skin, a sense of fear suddenly grips her. And she doesn’t know why. She just suddenly feels cold and scared and—

She steps out of the tube, still thinking and she jerks back into reality when she accidentally bumps into M’gann.

“Oops, sorry, M’gann— Woah.” She feels her feet move her to the spot in between M’gann and Artemis; the rest, excluding Wally, have stopped at the mouth of the tube and were staring at their surroundings in amazement.

The place they are in is huge.  It looked just about as big as a real-life football stadium and was fairly well-lit for, well, a Batcave. The parts of the ceiling that the lighting can’t seem to reach stretch up forever, columns of darkness punctuated by the dull-grey, razor sharp stalactites hanging from it, sinister and faintly terrifying. There levels of flat ground created by a combination of cave stone and metal structures. Zatanna can spot some darkened levels below after which, the ground that seemed to drop into nothingness.

She rubs her sleeveless arms, and sees Artemis do the same, even though she was wearing longer sleeves.

“It’s cold.” The archer whispers to her. M’gann doesn’t join in; her bright amber eyes are raking the lofty ceilings and her pink lips are slightly parted in awe.

“That’s because it’s a real, actual cave. The autumn temperatures are enhanced by the stone it itself, making it much chillier that the outside.” Wally’s voice comes from behind, his eyes taking in the marvel of the Batcave with a strange look of exasperation mixed with awe.

Upon further observation, the Zeta tube they are in has been bored into a wall directly opposite what appeared to be the main control center. The computer womb appeared to have about twenty TV-sized displays surrounding one huge ten-foot wide screen. All of them were running and performing specific tasks; Zatanna spotted one with a map of the world that had red dots all over it, and another running with nonsensical digits, clearly analysing data of some sort. The big screen was streaming live news broadcasts of about 20 different channels, worldwide.

“Okay, team.” Their heads all turn towards Kaldur. The leader is standing pencil straight and looking them all in the eye.

“Our objective is to find Robin, or at least someone who can explain to us what’s going on and where Robin is, got it?”

 “Yessir.”

“It is best if we refrain from talking. M’gann, can you,” he tapped his temple as a signal for her to set up a link. It is established within seconds.

_Good, now—_

A sudden, small ‘ahem’ cuts Kaldur short. Everyone freezes. The sound came from behind Kaldur, who was up front, from…

A man, standing at base of the steps leading down from the elevated platform extending from the zeta tube. 

He is dressed impeccably in a tuxedo, with grey sideburns and a well-trimmed moustache. His hands are held behind his back and he is looking straight at them, face expressionless but his blue eyes are alert and wary.

“Good Evening, young Sirs and Ladies.”

_Oops._

“Alfred.” Wally steps out up front, expression straight but fiercely determined.

“Master Wally. How nice to see you again. Now, what are you children doing in a drafty cave like this on such a fine evening? I would think you all would rather be spending your night at the mountain.” The gentleman is mild, but in a certain way, stern. He looks straight at them and Zatanna feels as if he can see right through them with his icy blue eyes.

“Yeah, well, about that.” Wally suddenly averts his eyes and looks rather embarrassed. She understands why he feels like that. She looks about and sees that everyone has the same guilty expressions on their faces that she’s sure is on hers as well.

“We want to see Robin.” Artemis suddenly says, her voice bold and unfaltering. Wally sucks in a breath as they all wait for the man’s (Alfred) response.

“Master Robin is unavailable at the current time, maybe next week—”

“Alfred,” Wally cuts in, “It’s been a month. We want to see him, now.”

The man seems to stiffen slightly at Wally’s unnaturally grave tone. Finally he stirs. Zatanna’s heart is pounding so loudly she can hear it in her ears.

“Well… I see you all are adamant on it. Very well, since you have taken it on yourselves to make it all the way here... But Master Batman will not be happy.” Suddenly, the man turns on his heel and starts towards the lit computer base of the cave, a hand to his ear and talking rapidly in a low voice, presumably into a communicator.

“C’mon.” She blinks and realises that the Team is moving, following the man uncertainly. Wally is the one who leads the troop, unfazed by the wondrous, magnificent cave and that same resolute expression set on his face.

 _Team._  Kaldur finally uses the mental link. _Can everyone hear me?_

 _Yes._ the other five chorus simultaneously.

 _Good._ _First things first; Wally, can we trust this man?_

 _Yup, of course._ Wally sounds confident, incredulous almost. _He’s Batman’s sole confidant, other than Robin, of course. This guy basically raised Batman from young. I think we can definitely trust him—_

 _Woah, wait— this old man is Batman’s dad?!?_ Now it is her turn to voice her disbelief. She can tell that the others feel similarly bewildered by the situation.

_No, no, no. I just meant that this guy is someone Batman trusts with everything. So I think it’s safe for us to trust him too._

They are led into a spacious elevator which is more long than wide. All their eyes are trained onto this Alfred person, who seems completely unperturbed by their stares and proceeds to press a button of the lift when the last person gets in.

 _Who is this guy anyway?_ Artemis asks, _He can’t be ol’ Bats’ sidekick too right?_

_Nada. He’s the family butler. Works for Batman._

The information takes a while to sink in. Then Conner chips the shocked silence in his low, mental voice.

_Batman has a butler?!?!_

The lift comes to a smooth halt immediately after they receive Conner’s message and they look up as the door slides open. Alfred holds it for and watches them with mild eyes as they file out.

Zatanna finds herself stepping out of the elevator into what seemed like either a miniature library or a very, very big study.

Polished, wooden bookcases stretch from the floor all the way to the ceiling and have ladders and levels for walking in between. The ceiling itself is an architectural wonder; the stone pillars stretch from the corners of the room and arches into the center of the rectangle, forming an artistic illusion of a dome. The walls are made of granite and marble and the bookcases are clearly of the finest carpentry and make.

In the far end of the room sits a gigantic, curved empty study table, made of oak. It is neat but has stacks of paper and files upon it.

The elevator is situated directly across the room, built into the wall and in front of what appeared to be a lounging area with a coffee table and two velvet sofas, facing one another. Right smack in the middle of the whole room stood two leather armchairs, one of which has its back faced towards them, in front of a huge fireplace with a roaring fire.

Alfred steps past all of them, makes his way around the sofas, stopping slightly behind the nearest leather armchair.

 

“Sir.”

“Alfred.” They all jump at the voice which travels from the armchair at the fire, the one with its back turned to them. Zatanna shrinks a little.

_We are in so much trouble._

“Our guests.” He steps aside to let them advance towards the source of the voice.

An irritated edge creeps into the man’s voice. “I thought I said to ignore—”

“Sir, I will not have 6 teenagers gambolling about the Manor at 1am in the morning, with the idea that they’re on a mission and be instead ambushed by a few of your ridiculous drones, which, may I add, are unproductive and a waste of the energy you supply them. The old wall systems were much more practical and less energy consuming... sir.” This Alfred guy spoke calmly, but Zatanna could sense that he was taking subtle stabs at the man-in-the-armchair, despite that the man was his ‘sir’.

The ‘sir’ gives a small sigh and the voice intones, sounding slightly weary. “I understand your sentiments. Fine. Thank you, Alfred. It’s late, could you perhaps check on Richard for me? And the other boys as well. I’ll be up in a moment.”

Alfred nodded as the teens glanced quizzically at each other.

_Who’s Richard?_

_And what other boys?_

_Yeah, what is he talking about, Wally?_

_Richard is—_ Wally’s statement is cut off just as the door clicks shut to indicate the butler’s exit. They stiffen automatically, waiting.

Then the man in the chair sets his feet on the ground and they can see his polished black shoes glinting in the firelight. He rises to his feet, his hulking built cutting an imposing figure. Stepping out from the armchair, the man walks up to Kaldur and Wally before stopping to size them up with a scrutinizing gaze.

His hair is jet-black, he’s wearing a suit which looks very well-made and expensive. Everyone is staring at him with rapt attention.  This man’s features are made harsh with the shadows but Zatanna realises with a start that despite the stern, almost angry set of his face, this man is exceedingly handsome. His eyes gleam with intelligence and a strange, deep sort of melancholy.

There is also this nagging feeling that she has seen him somewhere before… but where?

On her left, she feels Artemis’ thoughts turn frantic and … is that awe?

 _Artemis?_ She asks, and feels the others listening too. _Artemis, what is it?_

In a split-second, the girl silently gets a hold of her thoughts and forms a single coherent statement.

_Bruce Wayne. Batman is Bruce fucking Wayne._

_Bruce Wayne?_ M’gann pipes up, face confused.

 _Isn’t that the famous Gotham guy? The philanthropist?_ Conner chips in too, curious. Artemis sends her confirmation; Wally doesn’t even seem to be listening in.

Batman—no, Bruce Wayne—is watching all of them with a hard, unsettling expression on his face. When he speaks, it’s low and almost guttural and Zatanna is able to see him in the Batman costume. This makes sense now.

Sort of.

“I’d appreciate it,” he says slowly, “That you do not hold a secret mental conversation while I am talking.”

_Oops. Again._

_Understood?_

She startles again. The last word echoes in their heads, imploring and firm; M’gann breaks off the link immediately, but only because she is desperate to ask Mr Wayne a question.

“How’d you do that? How are you able to break through my mental barrier?”

“I had Martian Manhunter to teach me the aspects of your telekinetic and telepathy powers. Robin taught me how to get through.”

_Robin._

“Bat— I mean, Mr Wayne—” Artemis starts.

“Bruce. Just Bruce.” He answers her smoothly, despite her blatant nervousness and shock at the fact that Bruce Wayne, the world-famous billionaire, mogul, philanthropist, the top dominators of the present economy of the entire world, is in fact the person who ran around Gotham after dark in spandex with his sidekick Robin and called himself the _Batman_. It’s extremely difficult to picture him like that.

Maybe it’s because he isn’t wearing his cowl.

“Sorry, Bruce. We came here because…” her voice trails off, but luckily Kaldur steps up just at that moment and takes over.

“We want to know what happened to Robin and where he is.”

_Well, that escalated quickly._

Mr Wayne hesitates. Zatanna sees Wally and Artemis exchange uneasy sideways glances.

_This can’t be good._

“Robin,” The man starts, voice low, “Robin is… fine. However, he is currently indisposed and I’m afraid—”

“We want to see him!” pipes M’gann, amber eyes gleaming like stars in the firelight.

“—I can’t let you see him.”

“What? Why?”

“Mr Wayne—”

Zatanna just stands there and lets the team take over. How are they not afraid of this man, The Batman, the intimidating, frightening, imposing Dark Knight?

“No.”

“Bruce, please.” Wally walks up to Bruce. “Please let us see Rob.”

“No means no, Wally.” He stares the boy down but the latter does not falter. “His condition— He is not to be disturbed. He’s not allowed visitors.”

“But—“

“You’ll need a better reason than that, Mr Wayne.” Artemis injects slowly.

There is a shocked kind of silence.

Finally, Kaldur steps in, “Mr Wayne, what Wally and Artemis are trying to say is we are his friends, his team. We haven’t heard from him in over a month and we want to know why. Forgive me, if this means we have to pry into your private lives but we. Need. To. Know.”

Bruce Wayne says nothing at this, so Kaldur emphasizes, slowly, “If you are unwilling to tell us what happened to him, we will take matters into our own hands.”

A click on Zatanna’s right makes her turn; the sight before her catches her off-guard.

Artemis has her crossbow in her hand, nocked and ready to go, Wally’s sneakers are slung around his neck; he has his running boots on.  M’gann is hovering above the ground, a grim expression on her face as several things on the study table behind Bruce Wayne start to levitate. Superboy is stoic but crouched in a charging position and Kaldur has conjured ribbons of water from his water-pack and is willing them to twist and roll around him, like snakes.

 _Zee?_ Wally’s voice interrupts, _get ready._

 _Are you guys serious? You’re going to attack him_?

She turns back to the man standing before them but is shocked to see that there’s a small smile on his face. Beside her, Artemis shifts uneasily.

“Children,” the man rumbles, “there’s no need too—”

“We want to see Robin, now.” Wally interrupts loudly.

“Didn’t I say his condition doesn’t allow him to have visitors—”

“Team?”

All heads snap up to the source of the voice, which comes from the third level of the library-slash-study. Standing at the wooden banister is a boy dressed in nothing but pyjama trousers and leaning on a crutch. His torso is wrapped in bandages and there is a plaster cast on his left leg and right arm. His neck is exposed, and looked heavily bruised, as if he had been throttled repeatedly. He’s looking down on the team with a slightly astonished expression on his face and he is looking from them to Bruce, as if not comprehending the situation.

“Dick!” Wally cries and speeds up the ladders to ‘Dick’.

“Is that—” Zatanna hears M’gann whisper to Kaldur but he holds up his hand, eyes fixated on the pair.

“Wally, what are you all doing here?” Well, this Dick boy obviously knows that Wally is Kid Flash. Who was he?

“Dick.” The whole team, including Wally, jump.  Zatanna had forgotten that Bruce Wayne was there.

“Bruce, why didn’t you tell me they were here?!” The boy limped past Wally, his expression livid. “You lock me in the room, stop me from going to school, disallow me from seeing my friends— What else do you want from me?”

“I was just trying to—”

“Protect me? Keep the baddies out?” Dick scoffed, shocking everyone, “Don’t give me that excuse, Bruce.”

“It is not an excuse, Robin. This is for your own good.”

Bruce Wayne’s words take a moment to sink in.

“Robin?”

“Wait…” M’gann intones slowly.

It’s Artemis who, once again, solidifies their questions into words, “Richard Grayson? Richard Grayson is Robin?”

“Yes, I am.” Dick/Robin says, eyes still glued firmly to Bruce Wayne/Batman, “Sorry for not telling you guys sooner, but this guy insisted that it was _for my own good_.”

That hits a nerve. In her peripheral vision, Zatanna sees the Bat stiffen. When he speaks again, his voice is so cold and imploring, shivers run down her spine.

“Go to bed, Richard.”

“No.”

“Go to bed, we’ll talk about this later.”

“No.”

“Richard, I—”

“WE CERTAINLY WILL _NOT_ TALK ABOUT THIS LATER.” Dick’s hoarse shout shocks all of them, even Bruce. The boy is trembling with fury and, despite his weakened state, clearly not backing down.

“Even if we do in fact talk about this later, I will still be in the wrong. You’re always right and it’s _always_ for my own good. I tired of this Bruce. I’m tired of this and I’m tired of you always being so protective and side-lining me just because I’m ‘not good enough’. I. Am. Not. A. Child.”

With that, the boy drops his crutch and before anyone can stop him, leaps onto the banister…. and throws himself off.

Zatanna has to stifle a scream in her throat as she sees Dick shoot through the air. Beside her, Artemis shouts ‘No—’ and M’gann squeaks. Kaldur and Conner are already moving forward to catch the boy as he soars through the air and plummets—

Before landing on the chandelier above their heads with a clang.

“Dick!” Wally yells, echoed by Kaldur and M’gann. Zatanna turns her head to Bruce; He’s staring at his protégé, who’s glaring down at him from 20 feet above, with an inscrutable expression.

“Let me talk to my friends!” Dick shouts down at his mentor.

Despite everything, Zatanna is almost inclined to laugh at the scene before her. It is so like Robin to pull such a move, especially on Batman.

“Get down, Dick.”

“No!”

“You’re going to fall and hurt yourself.”

“I’m not going to fall! I’m an acrobat!”

“Stop it, Robin.”

“You can’t lock me up like I’m 7—”

“If you don’t get down this instant, I’ll—”

“You’ll what? Take away my video games? Keep away my ‘cycle? Prevent me from sneaking out on patrol with you?”

“You sneaked out on patrol with me?” For a second there, Dick hesitates.

“…So what if I did? That was a long time ago anyway!” When Bruce doesn’t respond, the boy continues his protests, “That’s not the point, why won’t you just let me—”

“If you don’t get down now—”

“Good heavens, Master Richard!” All heads whip around to the door at the ground floor of the study. Alfred is back, looking a little dishevelled but mostly shocked at the sight before his eyes.

“Master Richard—”

“Stay out of this Alfie, this doesn’t concern you. I’m not coming down until you let my friends off!”

“Dick—”

“Richard John Grayson.”

Everyone freezes because, well, it’s Alfred speaking. Zatanna has this feeling that when Alfred talks, everyone has to shut up and listen.

“You refuse to go to bed, kick up a fuss, tie me up with your sheets and then specifically disobey Leslie’s direct orders to not move around without assistance.”

The room is deathly quiet as the butler pauses, before his expression turns grim and eyes cold.

“I’m very disappointed in you, Richard.”

_Ouch._

Dick scrambles to save himself, make some excuses, talk back or do something but he catches Zatanna’s eye and stops when she shakes her head.

“Get down this instant.”

The team watches in slight awe as their youngest member meekly mutters a ‘yessir’ and glumly allows M’gann to telekinetically lower him to the ground floor where he is joined by a very severe-looking Alfred.

Wally zooms back down to join the rest of them but not before silently slipping Robin his crutch.

For a moment, no one speaks, then—

“Sit.” Bruce rumbles. Robin walks wordlessly to the leather armchair opposite the one previously occupied by his mentor.

“Richard—”

“15 minutes.” The boy says quietly, looking up at his mentor.

Silence.

“Please?”

More silence. Robin looks straight up at Bruce, without wavering. They look like they are trying to stare each other down, and even though he is sitting down, it seems as though Robin is winning.

“10.”

The boy’s eyes brighten, “Really?”

“10. No more, no less.” Bruce Wayne deadpans.

“Yes sir.” Robin throws them a quick grin as his mentor gestures for Alfred to leave. The butler nods and departs.  The Team gathers quietly. As Kaldur leads them over to the lounging area, Zatanna glances back to see Robin struggling to stand. Bruce slips a hand under his arm and helps him up before passing him his crutch. The boy makes a move to leave, but the billionaire sets a heavy hand on the child’s slight shoulder.

“I’ll be back for you.” his gaze softens minutely, “Don’t over exert yourself.”

“Mm.” Robin’s voice drops to a near whisper. Zatanna has to strain to make out the words. “Hey Bruce?”

The man pauses. Then his hand tightens on Robin’s shoulder briefly and he’s gone.

That’s more emotion in 5 minutes that she’s seen from Batman in the past 2 years of following her dad around and sneaking out to the hall of fame to watch their meetings.

The Batman, showing emotion.

_Wow._

She sinks into the cushions on the comfortable sofa as Robin hobbles over, his casted limbs making it extremely difficult to walk properly. Wally springs up to lend him a hand, his green eyes never leaving his best friend.

“Dude.”

“I’m fine, Walls, seriously.”

He takes a seat in the middle of the sofa, next to Zatanna with a heavy sigh. The rest of them huddle about the sofa, Wally, Kaldur, Conner and M’gann settling on the ground at the boy’s feet, and Artemis taking a seat on his other side.

“What happened to you?” the speedster asks. The rest keep quiet. Like her, they are probably reeling from learning of the secret identity (Secret! Identity!) of Robin and Batman by extension. Zatanna is pretty sure most of the leaguers don’t even know who Batman is. And now the Team knows. It’s so surreal.

“Kidnapping from a charity ball a month ago. I was Dick Grayson at that time, so I didn’t have any equipment on me. Batman didn’t manage to find me until a week later.”

“You were trapped for a whole week?!”

He nods grimly, his eyes looking pained. It is only now that Zatanna manages to take another closer look at Robin, as a whole. Past his bulky cast and bandages, the boy is significantly thinner, gaunter, likely having lost weight while in captivity. His hair was shorter, like he has been given a recent trim, likely to get all the knots and tangles that could not be solved by simple grooming. In the dim light, he has a haunted look to his face as well, as if he’s been aged beyond his years. The contusions around his neck does not do his outlook any favours; it looks painful and messy and tells of unspeakable horrors.

“Are you alright, Robin?” Kaldur’ahm asked, expression grave.

The boy gives a small laugh, “You can call me Dick now, y’know. But only when we are out of costume, and I don’t have my glasses on, ok? Most people still don’t know.”

They exchange glances and nod in unison, all looking especially solemn; they knew what a big show of trust this was, at least on Robin’s—no— Dick’s part.

Satisfied with their response, the boy continues, “I am… I am fine.”

“Bullshit.” Conner grunted. His eyes were burning something angry. Dick took a shaky breath, and let it out.

“Physically…”

He lifts up his casted arm with a small, forced grin and says in a would-be cheery voice.

“The broken limbs are courtesy of the baddies, near the end of my tenure as their prisoner. They weren’t too happy that police was closing in on them, along with the fact that Batman was coming, so they did me in during the final beating for a good measure. The ribs were cracked at first, then broken when the thugs went all out. My neck’s a still a little wrecked, one of the dudes had a thing for strangling children,” Dick gave a hard little laugh, “Other than that, my body’s as fit as a fiddle, well, other than some internal bruising and stuff like that—“

“Dude… don’t joke about this.” Wally looks a little queasy at the boy’s narration. He stops and looks about at the uneasy looks all around, on his teammates’ faces, then deflates slightly.

“Sorry.” He says quietly. The group lapses into a moment of discomforting silence, before Dick finally speaks up again.

“It’s just… I have to keep it light, y’know? It’s been really— well, it’s been tough. My therapist says I am coping with it through my humour, and it is easier when I can joke about it.”

“We know.” Conner says in a low growl, “But I still want to beat up those guys that did this to you.”

M’gann nods glumly, and the others look like they are about to agree as well when Dick says, “There’s no need for that. Batman has already apprehended them, and they are all en route to Belle Reve right now. So don’t go hunting them down because of me okay? I don’t want to see you all go against your mentors and do such things because of lil ol’ me.”

“You are not just _you_ , Dick.” Artemis says for the first time in a while, “You are important to us, that’s why we want to be able to do something.”

“Well, technically, you did find out my secret identity,” the teen grins from ear to ear, “That’s a plus in my book.”

“You still have not answered Kaldur’s question, Dick.” Zatanna says softly. She has been watching the conversation, listening to Dick skirt around the ordeal and play it off. He turns slowly to her, as if realising that there is no way he can run away from it now. The look in his eyes startles her. They are haunted, dark. Traumatised. It’s a word that she could barely bring herself to think, let alone associate with Dick.

“I… I’m trying my best. Like I said, I’m seeing a therapist.”

“And?”

“It’s been going… it’s been going. I’m a lot better now than I was when I first came out of it. At least I can talk about it now, like this, with all of you. It’s taken some time to reach this stage. Though,” Their friend gives a small, sad smile, “I can’t sleep on my own yet. Need someone to shake me out of the night terrors. So that has been fun.”

The string of information hovers over them like a cloud, and they slowly take it in. Perhaps that is why Wally couldn’t find him in his room when he tried to come by the manor to look.

“How do you feel now, talking about it to us?” M’gann says in a hushed voice, looking as horrified as Zatanna feels about this whole situation. It just feels so wrong, Batman and Robin always appeared so… infallible. Invincible. It takes some effort sometimes to remember that these two are just human, at the end of the day.

“I’m actually glad to be telling someone else about this, someone other than my therapist, or Bruce, or Alfred. I can’t tell my brothers anything about it, it would scare them too much. So it’s been lonely.”

“Your brothers?” Something in Zatanna’s head clicks, “So the other boys that Alfred mentioned…?”

“Yup,” for the first time that evening, Dick’s face brightens with genuine excitement, “I have two younger brothers, Jason Todd and Timothy Drake. They’re probably asleep now but gosh, they’ve always wanted to meet you guys. I’d love for you to meet them too. Now that you know who I am, it’s so much easier; maybe Bats will allow them to come over to the mountain sometime.”

A smile creeps onto her face, and Zatanna sees the same expression mirrored on her friends’. Now Dick is starting to sound like the old Robin, excitable, witty, and energetic. It seemed there’s hope yet for his full recovery.

“So you haven’t been back to school?”

“Bruce didn’t want me to, he wanted me to stay at home and recover. The school gave me until my ribs are healed. The whole town knows—it was a high-profile kidnapping and the whole situation was constantly being reported on the news. It’s not the most ideal scenario but what can you do,” he shrugged minutely, “I’m the ward of Bruce Wayne. Anything that happens to me or my brothers gets detailed out on TV like some reality show. I’m just glad…”

“You’re glad? About what, dude.” Wally intoned, sounding incredulous. Why would anyone be glad that he got kidnapped and tortured by a bunch of thugs?

A bitter light came into Dick’s eyes, “I’m just glad it wasn’t my brothers. I’m Robin, y’know. I’m trained to handle this sort of thing, but my little brothers… they’re too young. Jason has just barely turned 11, and Tim is still in elementary school. They wouldn’t have been able to handle it, so I’m glad they took me instead of them. I’m glad it was me.”

Dick’s eyes were unusually bright, flickering like shards of blue glass in the firelight. Tears pricked her eyes at the declaration. She could tell that the others were overcome with emotion as well, judging by the wetness in M’gann’s eyes and the firm set of the mouth of the others. Wally wordlessly pulled his best friend into a long hug, holding on to him like a drowning man would hang on to lifesaver.

Dick sighs and shuts his eyes, sinking into the embrace, “I’m sorry I ignored all your texts, bro.” he apologises, sounding a little hoarse, likely from all the talking he’d just done. “I really—“

“Shut up, asshole.” Artemis cuts in, and joins the hug, wrapping her arms round both Wally and Dick, muttering something along the lines of _‘I swear, you’re never leaving my sight again once you get back to school.’_ M’gann is the next to join, and she tugged Conner along. Kaldur goes, and he motions for Zatanna to join.

When they all break apart, she says solemnly, speaking for all of them, “You’re not just Robin, Dick. You’re human as well. It’s okay to be human, once in a while.”

The boy gives a grin, and this time it reaches his eyes, “Thanks Zee.”

Just in time, there is a soft knock on the hardwood door of the study, and Alfred lets himself into the room.

“Master Bruce wishes to let you know that your 10 minutes is up, boys and girls.”

“Thanks Alfie.” Dick looks up at them as they all stand collectively. Zatanna suddenly found that she doesn’t want to leave him—they were probably the only other company he’s had in the past month, aside from his family, and he looked so forlorn, just sitting there on the couch with his too-big casts and baggy night-clothing. “So I guess I’ll see you guys back at the mountain? Maybe I can get Bruce to let me come by soon, just to hang.”

“Of course, Dick.” Kaldur said, placing a gentle hand on the boy’s shoulder, “We miss having you with us. Do come by when you can, but please don’t force yourself until you are able.”

“Yessir.” The kid puts a hand to his brow in a mock salute, and it makes everyone smile.

“Young Sirs and Ladies, this way,” They follow Alfred towards the elevator they’d come up from. As they all file into the elevator, Bruce appears in the room and comes up beside his son to help him stand.

Dick raises his hand in a farewell, and they are all smiling as the door slides close on the elevator.

_See you soon._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand that's a wrap! I hope everyone enjoyed this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it! The last chapter is super duper long, but I hope it made sense anyway. It felt like I was writing a fic by itself, just for that last chapter. In any case, I may or may not write more for this verse, particularly involving Dick and his brothers (which I think would make for super cute interactions with the team) but we'll see! I need to have time to write in the first place, what with uni and all T-T


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